Denver, 30 January 2008

Check out the two cute faces in the crowd, lower right,

my 12 year-old twin nieces, Lilly and Charlotte.

They were thrilled to be so close to Barack Obama.

"He shook Lilly's hand and smiled at Charlotte."

Denver, 28 September 2008

so exciting

everybody is talking about the possibility, the hope, the change

and drawing parallels to JFK and 1960

I'm an Obama Mama

my pocket book

Found this pin from 1960 at my father's house this winter

same excitment today

In 1996 a group of people in my town sought to bring more diversity to town.

They established a Wilton chapter of the ABC Program.

A Better Chance (ABC) was established in 1963 

and recruits minority high school students

 for placement in independent and public high schools.

The Governor of Massachusetts, Deval Patrick, is a graduate of the program. 

He says: "This organization starts from the premise that talent resides in every American Community - and then puts that talent in the way of opportunity.  

It's as simple and as powerful as that.  And it's transforming too - 

for 13 and 14 year olds like I was and for the institutions we pass through".

This is the original ABC House in Wilton.

Our program was initially for boys.  It has grown to 8 boys.

As the program expanded the boys moved to a bigger house.

This year 4 girls were added to the program.

This is where they will live.

A group of talented individuals worked hard 

to update this house for the girls.

Here are some of the memento boards and picture frames 

that I donated for the girls 

and for the resident family.

Command station in kitchen

fun dotty board and frame

a bright and cheerful Sea Cloth board and Sis Boom frame

(Sis Boom designer Jennifer Paganelli is also a Wilton resident)

yellow & white checks

more checks 

fun zebra

I will add a picture of the girls soon.

They moved in last week and started school on Monday.

After you take a peek at more of my new fall line below

pop over to Annechovie

where you can read an interview she did with me.

My first interview. Wow!

Thanks for the pop Anne!

Handsome rather than pretty styles 

from the Fall 2008 line

Rosewood and maple faux bois 

Sophisticated green and browns

The green and white Quadrille fabric

was created for the 12 board members of the 

2008 NYC Garden Conservancy Spring Luncheon Committee

Red cane fabric 

two views

Anna Griffin fabric

Anna Maria Horner's Up All Night Garden Party fabric

with velvet

More Anna Griffin fabric

I have noticed  the left geometric design style

 in a lot of fabrics this year.

Quadrille, mentioned above, and Anna Griffin below

Two handsome navy frames both with velvet ribbon

Kaffe Fasset on left - called paperwieghts

and a batik on right

More of the Fall 2008 line-up

fancy fruits

good n'plenty

remember those lozenge shaped licorice candies?

happy gingham check

with the standard top-stitch or the skull and crossbones

happy discs

lifesavers and decals

love these colors

celadon green and robin's egg blue

the ribbon has both colors

Hello friends.

I am back from a wonderful two week break from my usual routine.

It was such a boost to my spirit and energy.

We started with some fun at the beach.

The weather was glorious.

Thanks to Jim for letting us stay at his house.

It was PERFECT.

the waves were fun

the water temperature was just right

then the jelly fish arrived

we bicycled everywhere

and performed a very interesting experiment -

more on that later in the week

  I got all sorts of projects done after

 a few restful days at the beach.  

The studio is shaping up - more organization, less clutter. 

 I even hired three great helpers. 

 I am so happy about this development. 

Lots of new frames in production.

Cake Rock Beach fabric designed by Joelle Hoverson

Did you know that Joelle is the founder of Purlsoho?

Joelle's sister Jennifer handles all of the fabric from the West Coast.

And did you know that Joelle was senior style editor 

at Martha Stewart Living?

I listen to books on tape while I work on the frames.

One of the books I listened to this summer was

The Martha Rules; 10 Essentials for Achieving Success as You

Start, Grow or Manage a Business

Martha writes about her experiences and other entrepreneurs such as Joelle.

It was fascinating to learn about Joelle Hoverson and how she built her business, 

purlsoho, a hip yarn store in NYC.

If you have not been to purlsoho or heard of it - 

check out the EYE CANDY on the web after you finish reading this post.

especially for those of you with fabric or yarn fetishes! (like me)

It is a worthwhile book to read if you are building a business.

 

Remember the woodgrain frames I showcased in early August.

Check out the pink woodgrain - fun

here it is in light pink

and a wild and bright fuchsia (not the best photo quality) 

The frames look great in person!

Faux bois is everywhere, on everything.

I just replaced my faux bois bag from FLEE

I liked it so much I bought the exact same one for this fall/winter.

I use a FLEE bag all summer too.

I will have lots of new frames on Etsy in the next few weeks

You can also find my frames in these wonderful boutiques

Sea Beans, Wilton, Connecticut

Mrs. Monogram, Bedford, New York

M Milestones, New Canaan, Connecticut

All She Wrote, Chicago, Illinois

All She Wrote, Winnetka, Illinois

The Fuchsia Frog, Birmingham, Michigan

The business is growing.

I have a design patent pending for the frames.

All very exciting.

If you know a store that I should pitch to, please let me know.

You can always contact me directly about purchasing frames.

taking the road less traveled

will be back in a bit

toodle-oo

I am very excited to be on a quasi-vacation,

from the office, that is....

got lots of work ahead me for mrr design.

Check out my new fabrics.

Anyone with a fabric fetish like me knows about purlsoho.

Purl has a beautiful website with delicious yarns and fabrics.

Cake Rock Beach, pictured above, was designed by Joelle Hoverson, the founder of Purl.

Here is my expanded faux bois collection. 

I highlighted the maple and rosewood last week.

The pink pine, fushcia and light pink, are fabulous. 

I was so excited when they arrived - all the way from Nebraska and Oregon. 

and the red cane (not quite faux bois, but ...) 

Remember Good & Plenty candy?

that is the name of the two middle fabrics pictured below.

Can you just taste the old-fashioned soft and chewy licorice candy, 

first made in 1893!

The other two dots are fun.

The elongated dots on the right remind me of the 

 double oo in the word look

that my daughter would color to look like eyes

when she was young. 

Isabel's relatives thought it was very funny 

when they received a thank you note with the 

colored-in look eyes.

Wish i could manipulate the computer to color the oos

 

fancy fruit will make great frames with pink or brown saddle stitch ribbon

and my geometrics 

The fabric on the right is by Anna Maria Horner

called

up all night garden party

Was she up all night designing with all the colors of her garden swirling in her head?

some handsome damask and some very mod damask 

busy few weeks ahead 

stay tuned for lots of new frames

I always order too much fabric;

too many choices for my customers.

But I can't resist.

Still more to come from Heather Bailey,

who has a wonderful new collection.

ps.  i almost forgot - today is a very good day

8-8-08

A very good number, 

so lucky that the Chinese changed the Olympics to start today,

precisely at 8:08 pm on 8-8-08.

something about those double oos - 

around and around - no end - continuous loop

great if it's a loop of good fortune!

I think there is a lot of good karma in the loop.

 enjoy

check out hidden in france 

talk about the power of 8 in her life!

happy feet

comfy feet & fashion feet

enjoy your weekend

the last of the birthday photos for awhile

the two youngest siblings have finally made it to the blog

i have been searching for this picture

This posting is for my darling brother CV

who really wants me to stop bothering him with all this blog stuff

"can I be taken off the blog list NOW" says he.

Not a chance, how else could I send you such a BIG birthday greeting

happy birthday kiddo

and Jeanne - you thought you escaped the blog...

I mentioned Jeanne, almost named Indepedence, on her bday, 

4th of July,

but did not have the photo.